


Your ears

by vivaldis_lover



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol Mention?, F/M, Fluff, Hinted Sheith - Freeform, Late Night Conversations, Love Confessions, Should I tag underage drinking?, Stargazing, They get drunk with Nunvill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 20:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12307035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivaldis_lover/pseuds/vivaldis_lover
Summary: Talking about your feelings is hard, confessing your feelings for someone is harder, but with the help of a drink some things are easier to say.





	Your ears

**Author's Note:**

> So, you know all those posts about Allura suddenly appreciating Lance's hideous ears? Well, I went ahead and decided to write something about it. Enjoy!

It made sense to celebrate their victory and newly found peace on Arus. It somehow completed the circle: they’d had their first success and celebration there and now they were back. The heroes coming home. More or less.

There was another home that was waiting for the paladins, and that was Earth. Pidge, Hunk and Lance couldn’t wait to go back and reunite with their families, let them know they were alive and well. It was a bit different for Shiro and Keith, but now they had each other and while there was no one waiting for them on Earth, they couldn’t wait to finally settle in together.

Lance looked at his drink. Damn, it felt like it had been ages since he’d had his first glass of Nunvill. Now he was almost used to its… unusual taste.

The hall of the Castle of Lions was full of guests, but no one was bugging him anymore. The leaders of the alliance were amicably chatting with the local Arusians, either too tipsy to carry on a serious conversation or too tired. He yawned, looking around for his friends. He saw Pidge and Hunk discussing with an Olkari. Shiro was busy with Kolivan. Keith was-

 _“Is that Klaizap?”_ wondered Lance. A giggle escaped his lips.

Yes, Klaizap was in fact showing Keith his sword, explaining to him all its features and qualities. Lance shook his head. _“I’m never letting him live this down.”_

 He then searched for Coran and Allura. He found the former in a corner of the room with a Balmeran.

Allura, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. He grew curious: usually, when she was not participating in the parties, she was observing the guests from upstairs and gossiping with the mice, but that evening she was not there. Since no one was interested in him, he decided to go look for her.

A quick check told him that she was not in her room, where he only found the mice, or in the kitchen.

 _“Weird,”_ he thought and kept searching.

There were a few things he wanted to settle between them, before he left. A few days before he had stopped to think about how much his feelings for her had changed since the first time they had met. The progression had been very natural, but he didn’t remember their first interactions fondly. He flinched, recalling all the awkward flirting and her initial reactions. Back then she was just a pretty face he had a crush on. He had desired her attention, but he hadn’t stopped to consider the possibility he might actually fall for her. And even after realizing how deep his feelings for her had become, he had never made the effort to turn their friendly relationship into something more.

He really liked her and he knew he owned her an apology for all that irritating flirting. He also knew that at that point she probably thought he was shallow, after seeing him flirt with so many pretty alien ladies.

“Well, good job, Lance,” he said aloud. He wanted to slap himself. If the situation was complicated was only because of his behavior.

Now he could only hope he hadn’t thrown away his chance with her.

*

She had excused herself, feeling the Nunvill going to her head. Slipping out of the hall hadn’t been difficult, all the guests were distracted.

She was now hiding on the bridge of the ship, sitting on the floor, with the empty glass next to her. Observing the dark sky, she realized that she couldn’t recognize any constellation. Arus was a long way from Altea. Under the influence of the intoxicating drink, she suddenly felt the need to cry. She missed her home and she was a bit envious of the paladins. They could go back to their planet. If they really decided to leave, she was going to miss them.

Not to mention, she was also worried about the alliance. What if it didn’t work? What if she wasn’t able to manage it? What if she screwed up and caused a rift? She hid her face behind her hands. She had dealt more with war than peace, during her life, and peace was turning out to be just as hard as war.

She needed someone to stop her from thinking so much.

“Allura! Here you are.”

All the paladins had gone from calling her _princess_ to just _Allura_ , but she knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

Lance sat next to her, not too close, putting down between them the half-empty glass he had brought with him. She was happy someone had found her. She was happy that someone was Lance: Lance was good with people. He might have been able to reassure her or distract her.

Lance did, in fact, pick up that there was something wrong with her, and that tiredness was not the answer.

“What’s wrong, Lura?” he asked.

He mostly used that nickname when they happened to be alone. Earthlings really seemed to have a thing for nicknames.

“I’m worried, Lance,” she admitted without problems. “I’m afraid I’m not good enough for this. That I’m going to screw things up. That I won’t be able to properly handle the coalition.”

It was not the first time she had opened up to him about her insecurities. Something about sharing the Blue Lion had brought them closer. Since he had admitted that he was glad she was the one who had taken over as the pilot of Blue, she had felt comfortable being more open in return.

She squeezed her hands. “We worked so hard for this. I don’t want to mess it up now. I don’t want to let my father down.”

She felt Lance’s hand on her shoulder.

“Allura, so far there’s nothing you’ve failed to do. You flew the Blue Lion, you created an alliance between planets, you opposed a _ten thousand_ years old empire.” He paused. “You’re the reason Voltron came back. If it wasn’t for you and your words, we would have run away.”

He remembered that episode with a little bit of shame.

“You are perfectly capable of doing what you need to do,” he told her, making her heart swell with confidence.

She nodded. “Thank you, Lance.”

They watched the stars in silence for a while and at some point she grabbed his glass and emptied it. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Do you wanna get drunk?” he asked. “I can sneak back in the hall and grab some more Nunvill.”

She thought about it.

“I really like this idea,” she decided.

Allura didn’t need to say anything else: Lance was already heading for the door. She watched the doors close behind him. Lance was nice. He didn’t know exactly how to cheer her up – in all honesty, neither did she, in that moment –, but he was not lacking in ideas. She patiently waited for his return.

There were things he still needed to learn. To focus more on his goals and his missions. To not let his insecurities get the best of him. To not let his ego get in the way. To balance the serious and the goofy.

She knew he could get there. Maybe with a little help.

When Lance came back, he was holding a whole tray of glasses.

“I thought one each was not gonna be enough, but I don’t have a lot of hands,” he explained. “So I stole a tray. We don’t have to drink it all, though.”

She giggled. “We don’t want to risk a poisoning, right?”

He sat down, grabbed two glasses and gave on to her.

“Would you care for a drink, beautiful lady?” he said with a flirty smile.

Allura smiled. “Thank you, young paladin.”

They emptied the first glass in no time and they started a second one. Allura could feel her head getting lighter and her movements a little less coordinated, the more she drank, but that didn’t stop her from drinking her third glass. At that point she decided to stop, before she lost her control completely. She felt Lance tapping on her shoulder.

“Hey, Lura.”

“Mh?”

“Do you know the names of the constellations?” asked Lance, in a slurred and drowsy voice.

She shook her head. “We’re far from Altea. I don’t recognize them.”

Lance picked up the sadness in her voice. He fell silent for a few seconds, before his face lit up again.

“We should name them!” he exclaimed. “Let’s find constellations and name them!”

Allura blinked a couple of times, taken aback. Then she laughed.

“Sounds like a good way to pass the time,” she said. She was always amazed by the Earthlings ability to find ways to pass the time.

It turned out that finding shapes and images between the stars was harder that they had thought. The first one they named was The Bayard. Lance then earned an elbow in his side, when he tried to name one The Dildo. Allura had spent enough time with them to know what that was. He almost fell over, laughing at her outraged reaction. She then pointed at a group of stars and decided they looked like a Baytor.

“That one is Coran With The Slipperies!” said Lance, pointing at another one.

She bursted out laughing. “Oh, poor Coran! He’s not going to be pleased!”

They both lay down, unable to stop giggling. It hit Allura in that moment that it had been too long since the last time she had felt so relaxed and carefree. She took a deep sigh and looked at Lance, who was wiping off tears from the corners of his eyes.

“Thank you for being here, Lance,” she said. “I’m just- I’m so tired. I wish I could take a break.”

Lance sat up.

“Allura, _you can_. You don’t _have_ to do this,” he told her. “You could… leave someone in your place for some time, while you take a vacation. You deserve it!”

“That would be a terribly irresponsible thing to do!” she replied. “What would they do without me?”

“Allura.” His voice softened. “I know you feel like you have to do everything on your own. But this is an _alliance_. You’re not leaving anyone without a leader.”

She avoided his gaze.

“Why don’t you come to Earth for a few days? Both you and Coran. I could show you where I live. Or we could show you where _Hunk_ lives. Or Pidge.”

Allura looked at the ceiling. She was not really convinced. Not yet. But Lance’s proposition was not devoid of appeal.

“I’ll think about it,” she allowed. He made a timid smile and she found it endearing.

He had the feeling that, if he missed this chance, he would have never found the courage and time to talk to her again in private. He had never been this nervous before talking to a girl – but after all this was not just _a_ girl, this was Allura, for whom he’d had a crush on since day one. He gulped, suddenly feeling the t-shirt very tight around his neck.

“Allura,” he said, but his voice came out as squeaky as a mouse’s. He cleared his throat. “I have something to tell you.”

She tilted her head, curious. Lance had to clear his throat once again, if anything to buy time, while he thought about what was the best thing to say. How to say it. Damn, why couldn’t he just solve everything with a good pick-up line? Why did it have to be _complicated_?

“Allura,” he repeated.

“Yes, Lance, I’m listening,” she replied, stifling a laugh.

He took a deep breath.

“IreallylikeyouAllura,” he managed to stutter out. In the following silence, he repeated “I like you”, bit it was almost like a whisper.

There, done. Like tearing off a band-aid. Only that he was not sure whether the band-aid was hiding healed skin or an open wound.

It took Allura a second too much to reply, so he went on.

“I know I might have already screwed up things between us, cause I’m an idiot and I can’t stop flirting – although I _have tried_ to keep myself in check, lately, since, you know, I like _you_ , but it was probably already too late. I mean, you have already seen me embarrass myself with the whole Nyma thing, so I can’t blame you it you think I’m shallow – and it’s not like I can deny it, I’ve been really shallow. I mean – I just really liked flirting. Just for shits and giggles. But-”

He stopped talking when he felt Allura’s hand on his arm.

“Lance, I have something to tell you.”

She saw him tense up.

“Your ears…” she started.

He sighed. “I know, they’re hideo-“

“They’re beautiful,” she interrupted him, with a soft smile.

Lance froze. His brain started working furiously to process what Allura had just told him. His heart started pounding.

“Wait, _what_?” he asked, too surprised to put together an actual sentence.

She giggled. She was not sure why she was saying this: maybe it was the Nunvill, maybe it was that he had managed to make her feel better, that he had offered to take her to his planet, his _home_. Maybe it was how much she had seen him grow and change.

She knew she wanted to give him a chance.

Lance jumped on his feet, excited.

“Say it again,” he said.

She drank from one of the last remaining glasses, pretending she didn’t hear.

“ _Please_ ,” he added, picking up the clue.

She laughed. “Your ears are beautiful.”

He threw a fist in the air. “I knew you couldn’t be immune to my charms!”

Allura laughed again, as Lance jumped with joy around the bridge. He put his hands in his hair, giggling.

“Wait, you’re not making fun of me, right?” he asked, suddenly defensive.

“What? No!” she said. “I really like them,” she added, feeling her cheeks warm up a little.

He relaxed again. She had never seen him so excited and it was an adorable sight. Her decision to give him a chance might have been a last-minute one, but her interest in him was not new, actually. It was hard not to notice Lance – he was loud, he liked to be at the centre of attention and he had flirted with her in a lot of inappropriate moments, but there was one thing she had to admit: when the flirting had come at the right moment, she hadn’t been totally indifferent to it.

Also, she needed a little goofy in her life. Lance was the perfect person to provide that. She liked how relaxed she could be around him.

“Oh,” he mumbled. “Oh, the others are not gonna believe it!”

She laughed again. Once he finally calmed down, he stopped jumping around and turned back to her, his eyes shining with joy. There was a moment, as he looked at her, where he felt his heart swelling.

He liked her and she liked him.

It was that simple and yet it felt like all of thas was possible only because of a unique alignment of the stars.

He silently sat next to her again, closer this time. What was he supposed to do now?

Before he could come up with something, Allura laid her head on his lap.

“Tell me more about Earth,” she said.

He smiled and started talking. He talked about his hometown, his old high school, how he and Hunk had met. He answered every question she asked, about his family, about the Garrison. There was so much she didn’t know and she couldn’t wait to learn everything.

After a while, he decided to lie down. Allura repositioned her head on his chest and listened to the vibrations of his voice. The soothing effect of his words almost had her falling asleep. After a while, she rubbed her eyes and he stopped talking.

“Do you want to go to sleep?” he asked.

She nodded. As she tried to get up, she felt Lance tugging her sleeve.

“Did I earn a goodnight kiss?” he asked with a sleepy grin printed on his face.

She chuckled softly. “How are you so confident, all of a sudden?”

She leaned down and he tried to get up on his elbows, to meet her halfway. He was stopped by her hand on his chest. She moved her head closer, until she was just a couple of inches from his face. Then she stopped. Lance tried to get closer, but the pressure on his chest prevented him from moving.

“Don’t get too cocky,” she whispered, pulling back. “You’re gonna have to work harder for that kiss.”

 


End file.
